Aug. 13 (Bloomberg) -- The Moapa Band of Paiute Indians
have formed a joint venture with Terrible Herbst Inc. and
Stronghold Engineering Inc. to build as much as 1.5 gigawatts of
renewable-energy projects on its land in Nevada.

The first project will be a 250-megawatt solar farm in
which the tribe will maintain majority ownership, said Sandy
King, director of renewable-energy project development at
closely held Stronghold. Excess electricity from the solar farm
and future projects will be sold to utilities throughout the
U.S. Southwest. The supplier of the solar modules is still being
determined and costs aren’t being disclosed, she said.

“This is going to provide a strong economic base for the
tribe,” King said in an interview today. The Moapa reservation,
about 30 miles (48 kilometers) northeast of Las Vegas, spans
70,000 acres and “is more than sufficient to support the 1.5
gigawatts of generation,” she said. The tribe also may replace
a coal-fired plant with one that’s fueled by natural gas.

The U.S. last year approved a separate 350-megawatt solar
farm, the first utility-scale project on American Indian tribal
lands, from which the Moapa will receive lease income. The Moapa
tribe organized under a constitution approved by the U.S. in
1942.

Terrible Herbst is a closely held Las Vegas-based company
that sells gasoline from more than 100 locations in three
western states.